Jesmond - History

History

According to local tradition, some time shortly after the Norman Conquest there occurred in the valley of the Ouse an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It seems reasonable to suppose that the Virgin was beheld with the infant Christ, because up until that time Jesmond had been known as Gese Muth “the mouth of the Ouse” while afterwards it was known as Jesmond or “the hill of Jesus”. The ruins of the Chapel are on the west side of the valley but local tradition holds that the apparition itself occurred at St Mary’s Rock which stands in the midst of the stream next to the ruins of Ridley Mill. If this tradition is correct it may indicate that the Chapel was a slipper chapel at which pilgrims removed their shoes before walking the remaining distance to the site of the apparition barefoot.

A trace of the processions to the shrine which occurred at this time is found in the name of that section of the former Great North Road adjacent to the Tyne called Pilgrim Street. During a period in which the shrine was in need of repair it was endowed with indulgences by a rescript of Pope Martin V on certain feasts of the liturgical year. A spring known as St Mary’s Well of uncertain date may also be found near to the chapel. It has the word “Gratia” inscribed upon stone above it. The greater part of the history of the shrine, its origins and the miracles which were said to have occurred there, have been lost in the destruction which came upon it in the sixteenth century.

The chapel was suppressed in the Reformation and fell into ruin. Afterwards the ruin and its grounds passed through various owners (one of whom tried to turn the well into a bathing pool) it was acquired by Lord Armstrong in the nineteenth century and given by him to the City of Newcastle. Mass is now offered there on occasion by the local Roman Catholic priest and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. Flowers along with letters and candles are often left in the ruins and it is once more frequented by occasional pilgrims. A booklet outlining the surviving history of the chapel may be obtained from the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Name on North Jesmond Avenue.